The initial objective for the Thessaloniki Forum of Airport Charges Regulators, set out in 2014 by the European Commission, was to “help with the exchanges of best practices on airport charges regulation in the Member States”. Pepi Lykou from the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority is rapporteur of a working group of the Thessaloniki Forum, and briefed Ross Falconer on its activities.

The European elections in May left a scenario in which, for the first time, the Social and Christian-democratic parties do not have an absolute majority in the European Parliament. This fact will have a decisive influence on parliamentary arithmetics, since the forces that have dominated European politics so far (European People’s Party and the Party of European Socialists) will require a third pro-European parties (Liberal or Ecologists) to be able to take forward the legislative agenda marked by the new European Commission. Report by Federico Bonaudi.